In 2012, Spain passed a law with special provisions for people of Sephardic heritage to become Spanish citizens. Now the Spanish parliament is considering a new law that would allow people who can prove Sephardic heritage to become dual citizens of Spain, and speed up the process. This relaxing of citizenship rules is intended as partial reparation for a “historic mistake” -- in 1492, Spanish Jews were given an awful choice by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand: convert to Christianity, or be forcibly expelled from the country within four months.

If you have Sephardic heritage, or think you might, this is a great time to begin to research your family history! The Sephardic roots booklist below should help you get started -- and it includes several general books about Sephardic history as well. The library also has lots of books about general Jewish genealogy research.

Perhaps you want more background about Spain’s 2012 citizenship law and the revisions currently being considered? Here are some basics to get you started:

A little more detail about Spain’s 2012 citizenship law, with a lot of history, is in Francisco Macías’s “Alhambra Decree: 521 years later” (In Custodia Legis, Law Library of Congress, 29 March 2013).

An array of books about Sephardic history: practical advice for Sephardic genealogists, stories from researchers who have delved into Sephardic family history, general books about Sephardic history, and histories of Spain in the period before the expulsion of the Jews in 1492.